


Nightmares

by acooper9716



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, One Shot, Post Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24193306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acooper9716/pseuds/acooper9716
Summary: The first three weeks John B and Sarah spent on the Bahama’s appeared to be okay. By week four, John B is struggling with nightmares.
Relationships: Sarah Cameron/John B. Routledge
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> I spent way too much time researching houses, workplaces, the cost of living in the Bahama’s, etc and I didn’t even use a quarter of the info I found for this. I don’t ever write fiction (I’m a nonfiction gal) so this is totally out of my comfort zone, but I felt like I needed to contribute to the John B and Sarah fanfic collection since it is severely lacking fics. I firmly believe one of their shared love languages is physical touch (this doesn’t just mean sex) based on the number of times I saw Sarah grab John B’s face, hand, arm, etc (which I think is BEAUTIFUL AND I LOVE IT). 
> 
> A HUGE THANK YOU TO @pogue-writings on Tumblr for reading and encouraging me to post this! Anyway, please enjoy this drabble that took me several days to write. 

During the three weeks following their escape from the Outer Banks and their arrival in the Bahama’s, everything appeared to be okay. John B and Sarah managed to secure under-the-radar jobs to buy them a place to live- him as a dock hand and fishing instructor for tourists, and her as a server at Margaritaville on Paradise Island. The days were long and exhausting, but they needed to keep a low profile and blend in as much as they could if Ward ever made an appearance on the island. Cashing in the piece of gold all at once would raise some red flags so they found someone to melt it down into smaller pieces, and got jobs to put a roof over their heads without using all the gold.

Most nights, the pair fell into bed each night exhausted from the day’s work and would quickly fall asleep. Other nights, they’d lay in the hammock set up on the patio of their condo and talk for hours before falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing against the shore a few blocks away. They had a roof over their heads, a few pieces of gold tucked under their bed in a safe, and they had each other. Everything else could come later. 

The nightmares started the fourth week they were on the island after John B and Sarah had a day off from work. After weeks of dreamless sleeps, the images nearly paralyzed him. Memories from his last day on the mainland flash before his eyes would warp into events he knows didn’t happen: not reaching Sarah and the plane in enough time, Ward nearly killing him in the middle of the ocean, Peterkin dying right before him after he shot her, or Sarah not surviving the storm.

That last day at the place called paradise on earth was anything but paradise and left him panting and covered in a cold sweat.

\- 

The first night John B had a nightmare was a flashback to hiding out in Rose’s property listing with the police and Kooks chasing after him. Drunk tourists returning to the Atlantis resort and yelling out to other visitors on the street below their condo wasn’t uncommon, so he and Sarah slept with a window open to keep cool, but some nights, the yelling was too much and entered John’s dreams. He shot up panting but just like that night, Sarah gently pushed her hands against his shoulders to lay back down and rested her head over his racing heart.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” she softly repeated, adjusting her spot on the bed so he could wrap his arms around her while she ran her thumb back and forth across his cheek. The soothing movement helped slow his racing heart.

“Want to remind me of the happy ending again?” he muttered, recalling the conversation they had a few weeks earlier.

Sarah smiled softly as she glanced up, “Well, it’s changed. We’re no longer heading for Mexico. You’re a fishing instructor. I don’t have the sandwich shop yet, but I will someday. We’ve got a house a few blocks from the beach. We’re saving up for the dog and the boat. And everything’s okay.”

“Yeah, everything’s okay,” he replied, pulling Sarah closer to him before the pair drifted back to sleep.

-

Some dreams were easier to get over than others. After that first nightmare and waking Sarah, John tried to be quieter. On the nights he had one, he’d let out a deep exhale while pushing the damp hair clinging to his forehead out of his eyes. He’d glance out the window beside their bed to see moonlight shining through the glass onto him and the blonde-haired Kook princess asleep beside him.

“It was just a dream. It wasn’t real,” he’d mutter. John B would roll over to pull Sarah closer and press his lips to her crown before closing his eyes to fall back asleep.

The dreams that involved losing Sarah were always the worst. As soon as he woke and assured himself that she was alive and next to him, he’d climb out of bed and pull open the sliding door to their patio and lean his arms against the railing. The sound of the tide meeting and receding the shoreline with the Atlantic’s breeze washed over him and relieved some of the heaviness in his chest.

Sarah isn’t a heavy sleeper and after living with John B for four weeks, her body was in-tune with him and quickly noticed the loss of his presence beside her. She tugged the sliding door open to alert him to her presence on the patio. Sarah could tell something was wrong but knew better than to push him, so she settled for leaning her head against his back and wrapping her arms around his bare torso from behind.

After a few minutes of silence, Sarah spoke up, “You want to talk about it?” she quietly asked.

“Not really, it was just a bad dream,” he responded. “It’s in the past.”

He straightens up and lifts his arm for Sarah to stand in front of him, “Come here.” She shifts around him before curling her arms around John B’s neck while he lifts her up so Sarah can wrap her legs around his waist.

“Sorry if I woke you,” John B muttered leaning his head against Sarah’s hand as she ran her thumb across his cheek in that soothing back-and-forth motion that had become so familiar.

“You never need to apologize for that,” Sarah replied. She leaned her forehead against John B’s so their noses touched and looked him straight in the eyes, “We’re in this together. Full Kook, remember?”

Sarah was his anchor- being near her made every shitty thing that happened over the last month fade away. Falling asleep and waking up next to her was the best way to start and end each day. Sarah was beside him in all the mess that had become his life and sharing the burden with her made each day a little bit easier. She helped him overcome the nightmares each time they appeared whether she realized it or not.

John B tightened his hold on Sarah in gratitude and tucked his face into her neck. Her words meant more than he could express.

“Love you, Val.”

Sarah ran her fingers through his hair, “Love you too, Vlad.”

They stayed outside for a few more minutes before John B carried her through the sliding door and back into their bedroom.

“Thank you,” he whispered into her ear as soon as they were beneath the covers.

“For what?”

“For getting on The Phantom with me, surviving a tropical storm and nearly getting stranded with me, just being here after a nightmare, do I need to continue?”

Sarah smiled as she curled up beside John B, “It’s like I said, I’d rather die than be without you.”

The nightmares might never go away, but as long as he had Sarah to help confront them, he knew everything would be okay. They’d get their happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! <3


End file.
